December 1998

Per the request of President Bill Clinton, the members of the presidentially appointed National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) met on Nov. 17 to discuss the bioethical, medical, and legal ramifications of the apparent first-ever creation of bovine-human hybrid cells, embryonic cells consisting of a human cell's nucleus inside a cow egg. In a Nov. 14 letter to the NBAC, the president said that he was "deeply troubled by this news of experiments involving the mingling of human and nonhuman

PHOTO CREDIT: Lori Desantis, Children's Hospital of Boston ANGIOGENESIS HONORS: Children's Hospital of Boston researcher Judah Folkman (far right) received the 1998 John Scott Award from the Philadelphia Board of Directors of City Trusts for his work in studying angiogenesis and angiogenesis inhibitors. Folkman, who refuses to be photographed alone, is joined by Harvard Medical School colleagues (from right) Donald Ingber, Michael O'Reilly, and Robert D'Amato. After being built up by a New York

NEXT STEP: The virtual center "is the natural evolution of our shared research interests," says Ashley T. Haase, chair of the microbiology department at the University of Minnesota. When AIDS researchers physically located in four different states hold a meeting, it almost feels like they're sitting at a table across from each other--but they're really just facing their individual computer screens. They view slides of the human immunodeficiency virus in lymphoid tissue in real time and discuss

PHOTO: Edward Derrick, AAAS PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE: J. Scott Hauger (left), director of the Research Competitiveness Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, speaks with Tom Collins, vice president for research at Oklahoma State University, during a break at the recent Next Generation Internet conference in San Diego. A distributed information-retrieval system enables desktop access to biological collections that can be used for biodiversity research, conservation, m

November marked one year since the war against HIV took another frightening twist. It was learned that, like guerrillas sneaking into a sleeping army command post, the virus could conceal itself from combination drug therapy by hiding in resting CD4+ T cells--the immune cells that order destruction of such foreign invaders, yet themselves are primary targets of HIV. But November also marked the emergence of a new weapon in the fight against these latent viral reserves, a fight still far from wo

Plant and animal circadian rhythms, 24-hour cycles that regulate many physiological and metabolic functions, are ultimately influenced by the same thing: light. Scientists are now beginning to realize that plants and animals may also share some of the mechanisms for receiving and processing that light so that the day/night cycles in both organisms are optimized. Two reports in the Nov. 20 issue of Science --one by researchers from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. (D.E. Somers

The National Academy of Sciences is a focal point of the highest credibility for the greatest scientific community the world has ever known. Not only does the Academy recognize, reward, and reinforce excellence and creativity in science, setting the highest standards of quality and discovery, it also powerfully fosters the uses of science and technology in judicious, humane, and democratic ways. The scientific community is the best approximation we now have to a truly international community,

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the Institute of Medicine (IOM)--along with our "operating arm," the National Research Council (NRC)--are private, independent nonprofit organizations. Most of the work that we do is funded by the federal government in our role as science advisers to the nation. This tradition of service reaches back to our 1863 charter, and providing independent advice to our government remains the central role of the NAS, NAE,

The letters by Clifton Blincoe and W. Crawford Clark published in The Scientist, (12[2]:8, Oct. 26, 1998) under the heading "Homeopathy and Alternative Medicine" emphasize the role that the placebo effect plays in alternative medicine and homeopathy. (The letters refer to articles published previously: S. Bunk, The Scientist, 12[18]:1, Sept. 14, 1998; D. Viza, The Scientist, 12[18]:8, Sept. 14, 1998.) The recent article by Sandra Blakeslee, "Placebos Prove So Powerful Even Experts Are Surpri

Congratulations on the publication of the Commentary by Dimitri Viza (The Scientist, 12[18]:8, Sept. 14, 1998). His comments are pertinent and powerful. However, I believe that he fails to give sufficient emphasis to why research is performed in the first place. Surely there must be some individuals who are driven by a need to answer a question that they believe is of overwhelming significance, such as, "How can the ability of organisms to learn be improved?" or "What is the basis of altruist

Writing in the Sept. 14, 1998, issue of The Scientist ("The Under-reporting of Research Impact," 12[18]:9), Ronald N. Kostoff outlines steps to better utilize the Science Citation Index® (SCI) to track research impact. Kostoff states that the cooperation of scientific journals would be needed to ensure the completeness and adequacy of reference lists, as well as to assess whether bibliographies are properly prioritized with respect to the relative importance of each reference. I believe thi

Doctors and their patients often hold different ideas about disease and how to treat it. When it comes to alternative medicine, the line seems clear. The public prefers alternative treatments--acupuncture, herbal remedies, imagery, therapeutic touch--to the drugs, psychotherapies, and surgery offered by the medical establishment. According to a 1993 report in the New England Journal of Medicine (D.M. Eisenberg et al., 328:246-52) Americans make more visits to alternative healers and spend more

Research Research: Do Energy Transport Systems Shape Organisms? By Steve Bunk Brian Evans/lightSpace BEAUTY OF LIFE: This computer-generated image illustrating how organisms grow proportionally represents only a tiny portion of image E on the following page. Could it be that the way organisms transport resources is the most pervasive influence on biological structure and diversity? Curious though it may seem, recent research suggests that networks for transporting the materials essential

H. Kiyokawa, R.D. Kineman, K.O. Manova-Todorova, V.C. Soares, E.S. Hoffman, M. Ono, D. Khanam, A.C. Hayday, L.A. Frohman, and A. Koff. "Enhanced growth of mice lacking the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor function of p27Kip1," Cell, 85:721-32, 1996. (Cited in more than 155 papers since publication) Comments by Andrew Koff, associate member of the molecular biology program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors act as a traffic cop of cell

David A. Cheresh P.C. Brooks, S. Strömblad, L.C. Sanders, T.L. von Schalscha, R.T. Aimes, W.G. Stetler-Stevenson, J.P. Quigley, D.A. Cheresh, "Localization of matrix metalloproteinase MMP-2 to the surface of invasive cells by interaction with integrin alpha-vß3," Cell, 85:683-93, 1996. (Cited in more than 155 papers since publication) Comments by David A. Cheresh, professor of immunology and vascular biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Much in the new

PHOTO CREDIT: Thomas Gottin BIOINFORMATICS PROGRAMMING: Rensselaer's John Salerno (shown with biologist Jane Koretz) has been piecing together courses for the institute's new bioinformatics offerings. "Bioinformatics," the buzzword, seems unavoidable. But, for life scientists, is learning the related skills unavoidable, too? Acquiring that software savvy may not be absolutely necessary, notes W. Graham Richards, professor of physical and theoretical chemistry at Oxford University. But it may

Develop PHOTO CREDIT: Graham G. Ramsay DO IT YOURSELF: Harvard Medical School's George Church (back) thinks the best way to learn cutting-edge bioinformatics techniques is through constant self-education. Church and research assistants (from right) Jason Hughes, Preston Estep, and Fritz Roth (now with Millennium) stand near an RNA chip scanner, which helps determine changes in gene expression due to a given stimulus. Date: December 7, 1998 Asking five people to define bioinformatic

Gel Microdrop System from One Cell Systems can ferret out rare protein secreting cells Imagine, if you will, a single cell suspended in a drop. Now picture that same cell secreting a protein, say an immunoglobulin. Now envision that secreting cell embedded in a matrix that binds the protein as it leaves the cell, and you have the idea of the microdrop hybridoma selection system available from One Cell Systems. A modification of the microdrop technology described in 1991 by James Weaver, Associ

Novagen's STP3 performance with various templates Promega's TNT® system and Novagen's Single Tube Protein™ System 3 combine in vitro transcription and translation into a single-tube reaction. Traditionally, in vitro transcription and translation are carried out as two separate reactions where the RNA reactions is first synthesized using an in vitro transcription system and then added to a translation reaction, of which several are in use today. Carrying out two separate procedures c

Date: December 7, 1998Statistical Software Table The science of biometry, or biological statistics, and the art of graphic display have made major advances with the advent of the desktop computer. These advances include quick, multivariant statistical analyses of large data sets and real-time re-analyses with different parameters; the ability to test a mathematical model with raw data; and a multitude of two- and three-dimensional graphical display methods. A wide array of statistics applicatio

Date: December 7, 1998Thermal Blocks Table As a strong contingent of companies maneuvers to establish dominance over a diminishing share of the market for thermal cyclers, the pressure to lower costs and develop new technologies has made this a dynamic year for the industry. Frustrated by competition, some companies that have been steadfast promoters of the technology are bowing gracefully out of the industry. However, as the leviathans of the thermal cycler business put pressure on the little

Honorable Mention in Science:The Nobel Surprise

Cold Spring Harbor NEW PROGRAM AT COLD SPRING HARBOR Next fall, five students will begin a new Ph.D. program at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island that promises to be both faster and more flexible than the typical graduate school experience. The private, nonprofit research and educational institution has been home to such bioluminaries as Barbara McClintock and James Watson. Although it has welcomed grad students from the nearby University at Stony Brook for many years, until now it